Young people are unwittingly acting as “human guinea pigs” in the booming market for new psychoactive substances (NPS), according to the EU drugs agency.
It identified a further 98 NPS, often referred to as legal highs, in 2015. This brings to more than 560 the total number of such products identified since 2009.
The 2016 annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said it issued 34 NPS public health alerts since 2014.
It said the market was dominated by synthetic cannabinoids (chemicals that mimic the effects of cannabis) and synthetic cathinones (which mimic the effects of cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamine).
Many of these synthetic drugs, such as 2NBOMe, a-PVP and PMMA, have been linked with numerous fatalities and near fatalities in Ireland, most recently in the death, involving 2NBOMe, of teenager Alex Ryan in Cork last January.
Synthetic cannabis accounts for 60% of all the NPS identified and 24 new ones were documented in 2014, compared to 26 cathinones.
The 2014 European Commission Flashbarometer shows Ireland last year had one of the highest rates of NPS use, at 10%. This is despite the trade being effectively criminalised in 2010 with the closure of head shops. The last national prevalence study in Ireland, conducted in 2010/2011, put the above figure at almost 7%. Though the results of the next study are not yet out, last year, usage of NPS is thought to have gone down.
Source: Cormac O'Keeff, Irish Examiner, 01/06/16
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